Yes, that's her 20 points from the Build Points--everything here is meant to apply immedidately.
Oops missed that--thanks. Disturbing though the statues might be, Aesthetics is mostly about what would impress a Hermetic magus, not so much about what looks pretty. BTW, lifting the curse could conceivably revive these men, though since we're extending the story rather than changing it, that doesn't seem likely. If they were revived, it's not clear whether the men would be human or fae at this point, and if they were human, they would likely die if they left the regio...soooo, either way, Viola would have roommates.
Yes, after we gave her 5 pawns of vis (enough to restore her familiar, plus one extra). That was in one of the threads I read back on, I think "Haunted Covenant".
Aura...um...foo. No one else noticed that before, when we were making the original plans. 
What did she have extra botch dice from? And any recall of what her Golden Cord was like? But yeah, 10 extra dice is a lot. That could be truly spectacular. (Did you know regio botch dice were doubled? I just found that rule. No wonder Hermetic magi are terrified of Faerie regiones.) OTOH, I really don't want to have to spend an extra two seasons setting up that lab...Viola is already spending one season to investigate the hypocaust, a second to investigate the Perdo vis source (which, now that I think about it, might just stick around, if the first part of Halia's story doesn't change), and a third to learn Aegis of the Hearth.
So why don't we try this: let's see if we can trade for a copy of The Ambulatory Laboratory (Covenants pg. 122). Viola can learn it easily, and cast it successfully, though she'll probably take Fatigue. A side benefit is that we could use it to relocate at least a few more labs, after suitable spaces are available; we could set up at least one of them in the central room of each cave level. In the end, we end up actually saving seasons of work, for both Viola and Gregorius.
If we go this route, I think that Viola will use one of the other labs for the time being, and wait to move her equipment until the regio is ready--that could mean instantly gaining one or more additional Virtues that weren't paid for with Build Points, but given that transforming the regio is going to require at least two seasons of work (including the trip and the creation of the new story), that doesn't seem like a problem.
I haven't gotten that far yet, but Magical Heating and Lighting would make them a lot more viable. Faerie Ingredients might also be a possibility. Given Viola's focus on items, keeping just the Flawless tools might also be an option.
I can stat one up. That probably won't happen until after I've finished the Faerie Friend I've needed to stat up for years....Yes, that does mean someone else has access.
That's in the official errata--you'll notice two consecutive sections are labeled "Minor Supernatural Flaws".
Hmm, I didn't read it that way, but it looks like that's how all the example labs in the book are done. That's a hellacious Items bonus. In that case, I'll have to incorporate the "statues" somehow later, or maybe just take them as a Lesser Feature (which would give 30 builds points, the same as for Gregorius' lab). I feel like I ought to have them affect the lab in some way, even initially. Or I guess that's not so much of a problem if she doesn't set up the lab until later (she could incorporate them as a Lesser Feature initially, since the Defective Heating opens up one Virtue point, and then consider making them a Greater Feature after Refinement.
Looking through the examples also brought the Free Virtue Site of Legend to my attention--Halia's level might qualify as that.
I haven't decided on one yet, and in any case it might only be temporary, until new Virtues and Flaws increase the Warping. Got any suggestions?
I'll post a new version below.
Scott
VIOLA’S LAB
(Virtues and Flaws described within the text are labeled in parentheses.)
When the party of magi tasked with establishing Nova Castra arrived at the site of ancient Tanais, Viola immediately noticed a faerie regio on the site of the ruined temple to Poseidon on the north side of the city’s central square. At the mundane level, nothing was left of the temple but an altar within the foundations of the portico, before the entrance; a mosaic-tile basin three feet below ground level of what was once the temple’s main room periodically collects rainwater, from which Rego vis can be distilled. However, those in the party with Second Sight perceived a massive pair of bronze doors (Grand Entrance), doubtless a fae reflection of the doors that had once stood at the temple’s entrance. These doors formed the gateway to the regio.
By making a sacrificial feast of a horse, an animal sacred to Poseidon, Viola lured a number of faeries dressed as Greeks, who claimed to be the god’s children. One of them led her through the bronze doors, now studded with three gems each, into the first level of the regio, where, down a short flight of stairs, the temple was still intact (Regio, but with no Size bonus until the upper level is incorporated into the lab). An open roof (Defective Heating, but with no effect on Upkeep) allowed rain to fall into an ankle-deep pool in a mosaic-tiled basin, while the walls sported frescoes devoted to Poseidon, and, at the far end, a fountain in the form of a large statue of the god, from whose eyes flowed a waterfall. Disturbingly, the room also featured a half dozen “statues” of people who had been turned to stone. Viola would choose to establish her living quarters here.
Viola’s guide led her through the waterfall to pass down a staircase to an underground floor, lit only by natural light from the open roof up the stairs. Channels down the stairs and along the walls carried water from the fountain above (Greater Feature and Greater Focus), though a faerie curse had reduced the flow to a trickle (only a +3 total specialization bonus until the curse can be lifted). The room featured stone columns interspersed with an even greater number of stone statues, as well as a barred door and a large bas-relief of a seated couple, marred by the impression of what appeared to be a giant fist. Behind the door lay a kitchen filled with a large number of sororocidal and cannibalistic blind crones, the Handmaidens of Poseidon, who passed the time cooking one another and fighting over three orbs that served as eyes. These crones proved harmless, except to one another, so long as Viola resisted their importunings to enjoy a little home cooking.
The bas-relief proved to be a regio boundary. Leaving the company of the crones, Viola re-barred the door and followed the guide through the smashed portrait to enter the second regio level, a vast labyrinth formed of stalagmites under a dark, stormy, night sky. Deep in the labyrinth lay a large room full of dozens more “statues”, evidently the lair of the guide’s mother, a Gorgon who had once been the nymph Halia. The labyrinth also encompassed a stone-bricked courtyard centered around a stagnant pool from which rose a moss-covered altar (atop which lay chained yet another stone corpse—this one with an erect phallus); a single cloud in the otherwise clear sky above rained down upon the courtyard, yet not on the pool, and even the water that landed around the pool drained uphill, away from it. Viola reasoned that this pool might provide a source of Perdo vis, but she detected none there at that moment.
In the future, Viola will enchant the temple, granting Magical Heating to the lab, and also making her living quarters more comfortable; she may also provide Magical Lighting. The petrified men could become a Feature. Once the curse is lifted, she’ll extend the lab into the upper level of the regio, and it might be possible to train the Handmaidens as a horde, or at least let them out, making them Inhabitants. Depending on how changing Halia’s story changes Halia and the regio, a Natural Environment might exist on the upper regio level, and Halia might become a Greater Guardian, or perhaps simply have her Lair within the lab. The upper level of the regio would presumably also qualify as a Site of Legend.
Lab Stats:
Size: 0 (-1)
Refinement: 0
Base Safety: -1
General Quality: +7
Upkeep: +3
Safety: +3
Warping: +1
Health: 0
Aesthetics: +3
Specializations: +4 Items, +3 Teaching, +1 Cr, +1 Me
Major Virtue: Greater Feature (Running Water) (+2 Aesthetics , +1 Items)
Free Virtues: Familiar (+8 General Quality, +3 Safety), Flawless Equipment (+2 General Quality, +2 Upkeep, +2 Vis Extraction), Flawless Tools (+1 Upkeep, +2 Items), Grand Entrance (+2 Aesthetics), Magic Item (Viola’s quill talisman; +3 Teaching), Regio (+1 Warping), Servant (+1 Safety, +1 Aesthetics, +1 Me), Spotless (+1 Health, +1 Aesthetics, +1 Cr).
Free Flaw: Impregnable (–2 Aesthetics)
Minor Flaw: Defective Heating (-1 General Quality, -1 Health, -1 Aesthetics)
Major Flaw: Greater Focus (Running Water) (-2 General Quality, +2 Items)
Lab Enchantments
None
